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Friday, January 6, 2012

DIY Calendar

I've always found it fascinating to watch how kids' drawing and writing skills develop. They start by scribbling, and before you know it, are able to make carefully controlled marks and eventually shapes, letters, and more. I wish my mom had saved some of my early artwork, but it's too late for me. Not too late for my son though...

Abe has finally gotten past the point where giving him a crayon meant wiping chewed up bits of crayon out of his mouth three seconds later, so he found a lovely box of crayons in his stocking this Christmas. He enjoys scribbling, and finding this calendar for my calendar post the other day gave me an idea.

I printed out a blank calendar and let him scribble on the first page. Every month I'll give him a new page to color on, and by the end of the year we'll have a sweet collection of his little drawings...and a record of how his drawing skills have changed and progressed.

My little brother used to draw faces where the smile went from eye to eye. When I was a kid, my E's had so many lines in the middle that they looked like little combs. For some reason I look forward to things like that.

Every kid is different, so I can't wait to see where Abe's little box of crayons leads him. Until then, we'll just admire his latest masterpieces one day at a time.

I circled the date that he made this one, and popped the whole stack of blank pages into an empty CD case. When the year is over I'll probably tie them together with a ribbon to make a little book.

If you want to start this project on your own, download a blank calendar here.